Hilarion Capucci, the retired archbishop of Ceasarea for the the Melkite Church, said Thursday that "Israel must be held accountable for the massacres they are committing against Palestinians."

Archbishop Caqpucci demanded from his current place of residence in Italy that all international institutions and criminal courts to hold Israel responsible for their "ugly crimes" against Palestinians, and he called upon Palestinians to resist the attacks with all possible means, "because there is no substitute for resistance and it is the only way to liberate Palestine."

The Archbishop condemned the "Israeli crimes" against Palestinian children, women, elderly, and men in Gaza and all Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps.

"I wish I was there with you (Palestinians) sharing everything you are doing to defend our people," Archbishop Capucci said.

"During hard times the father should be with his children, defending them, and when the wolf comes the shepherd should be defending his flock, this is why my pain increases every day of these cruel, bitter days," he said, adding: "My soul and heart are with you and my prayers are for you."

The Syrian-born Archbishop Capucci has been a long-time advocate of the Palestinian cause and was arrested by Israeli police in August 1974 for smuggling weapons into the West Bank.

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison by an Israeli court for smuggling arms to the Palestinian Liberation Army, but was released in 1978 after spending four years in Israeli prisons through Vatican intervention.

"I think it's going to be very hard to put a ceasefire back together again if Israelis and the international community can't feel confident that Hamas can follow through on a ceasefire commitment," he said.Palestinian journalist killed in Israeli strike on RafahA Palestinian journalist was killed in an Israeli strike on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday, health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded Friday that an Israeli soldier captured in Gaza be released immediately and condemned the reported capture "in the strongest terms."

Ban called on Israel and Hamas to show restraint and return to the 72-hour truce that collapsed after two soldiers were killed and a third reportedly captured near the southern city of Rafah.

"The secretary-general demands the immediate and unconditional release of the captured soldier," his spokesman said in a statement.

Ban was "shocked and profoundly disappointed" by the renewed violence and warned that if reports of the attack on Israeli soldiers were confirmed "this would constitute a grave violation of the ceasefire," the statement added.

"Such moves call into question the credibility of Hamas' assurances to the United Nations."

Hamas has denied responsibility for capturing a soldier and claimed Israel has fabricated the incident in order to "cover up its crimes."

Senior Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said in a statement to France 24 channel that "Israel claims that a soldier was captured to hide its crimes and to divert the public opinion to speak of the captured soldier instead."

"We do not have any information about a captured soldier," he added, saying no soldier was captured by any Palestinian faction.

Israel and Hamas traded accusations over the collapse of the ceasefire amid renewed fierce fighting that left scores dead.

The United Nations has repeatedly called for a humanitarian truce to give respite to civilians from the fighting that has left over 1,600 dead on the Palestinian side, mostly civilians, and 63 Israeli soldiers and three civilians on the other.

Uncertainty over Egypt-brokered talks

The UN's top political affairs chief poured cold water on prospects for peace talks brokered by Egypt after the collapse of the 72-hour truce that was to lay the groundwork for negotiations.

"The chance for success of these talks rested on quiet, rested on the 72-hour ceasefire," said Jeffrey Feltman, Under Secretary General for Political Affairs.

"Right now we have escalation. I myself have a hard time envisaging how these talks would work right now."

Egypt said the invitation to Israeli and Palestinian delegations was still open and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said his team would travel to Cairo for the talks on Saturday.

UN officials pressed for a return to the ceasefire, but acknowledged that the conflict had escalated and that the abduction of the Israeli soldier had virtually killed prospects for a truce.

"I hope that we can get back to that (a truce) but it is going to be extremely difficult given the situation we see in the Gaza Strip now especially with the capture of the Israeli soldier," said Feltman.

Feltman stressed that the United Nations had received firm assurances from both sides "after long, hard, tough" negotiations that they would suspend fighting for 72 hours.

Those talks involved US Secretary of State John Kerry and key players from Qatar and Turkey, who are in contact with Hamas, as well as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

The Ministry of Health condemned the attack on the ambulance, which directly targeted medics while carrying out their duty to evacuate and transport the wounded.

Local sources in Gaza report that Israeli troops have advanced further into areas of Beit Hanoun, al-Shujayeh, and Rafah. Khan Younis continues to be a target of Israeli artillery shelling and air strikes.

Belal Dababour, a doctor in Gaza reports that Israeli troops just flattened a house on its residents. One of the victims, a mother named Siham, died while nursing her 26 day-old baby, who survived her.

Saudi King Abdullah said Friday that world silence over Israeli "war crimes" in the Gaza Strip was "inexcusable" and would only breed more violence in the future.

"We see the blood of out brothers in Palestine being shed in collective massacres that have spared nobody, and in war crimes against humanity," the king said in a speech carried by state news agency SPA.

He said it was "all taking place under the eyes and ears of the international community ... that has stood indifferently watching events in the whole region."

"This silence is inexcusable" and will "result in a generation that rejects peace and believes only in violence," he said.

The conflict that broke out on July 8 has killed nearly 1,500 on the Palestinian side, mostly civilians, and 63 Israeli soldiers, two Israeli civilians, and a foreign national.

Abdullah also lashed out at religious extremism, urging "Muslim leaders and scholars to ... stand up to those trying to hijack Islam and portray it as a religion of hatred, extremism, and terrorism."

"It is a shame and a disgrace that these terrorists kill, mutilate (dead bodies), and proudly spread (pictures) in the name of religion," he said.

His remarks were an apparent reference to Islamic State Wahhabi militants operating in Iraq and Syria.

ISIL has declared a "caliphate" in areas it controls in the two Arab states, with their lightning advance in Iraq in June seen as also posing a threat to Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Saudi Arabia, an ultra-conservative Sunni kingdom and home to Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, shares an 814-kilometer (505-mile) border with Iraq.

International solidarity activists who have been helping in Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest, have announced that the hospital has received a phone call telling them a building of the hospital will be bombed.

The group's press release reads as follows:

At 16:30, the hospital received a call from an unlisted number, stating a building needed to be evacuated immediately.

The building is being used for overflow patients, and is directly across the road from the main hospital building. It is part of the hospital site, but building work has yet to be completed.

The hospital is now in the process of evacuating all staff and patients inside.

“I’d like to say that Israel’s threats to bomb Gaza’s largest hospital have reached a new low, but in light of it’s relentless atrocities and civilian massacres over the last 25 days, it’s hardly unexpected.” Stated Joe Catron, U.S. International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activist now in al-Shifa hospital.

Since July 25th, international volunteers from countries including Spain, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, Australia, and Venezuela have begun a constant protective presence in various locations at the al-Shifa Hospital.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, as of July 29th, there have been 34 attacks against Gazan medical facilities since this latest Israeli military assault began 25 days ago.

An Israeli airstrike hit an ambulance and killed a paramedic Friday as Israel stepped up its bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip following the collapse of a ceasefire earlier in the day.

Palestinian medical sources said that paramedic Atef Zamili was killed in an airstrike on his vehicle and that seven passengers were wounded.

Zamili's death brings to 16 the number of health workers who have been killed in Israeli strikes since the beginning of the assault 25 days ago. This is third 13th ambulance to be targeted in an Israeli attack, according to the ministry of health.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces widened their assault across the Gaza Strip on Friday afternoon, launching further ground movements in Shujaiyya in eastern Gaza City, Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

The expansion of the invasion comes after Israel said one of its soldiers was captured during an attack on its military position east of Rafah inside the Gaza Strip.

Hamas said that it attacked the position an hour before a ceasefire was due to start at 8 p.m., saying that it was a response to Israeli troop movements in the area as well as the deaths of 16 Palestinians in continued Israeli shelling and airstrikes overnight.

It did not, however, take responsibility for the capture of the soldier, saying that Israel had fabricated the claim.

Israeli forces pounded the Gaza Strip all Friday afternoon following the attack, as Israeli authorities vowed a "crushing" response to what they called a ceasefire violation.

At least 40 were killed in intense shelling of Rafah during the Hamas attack on the military post, and at least a dozen more have been killed in air strikes and shelling since then.

The deaths bring the total in Israel's assault to more than 1,500 as
well as nearly 9,000 injured, in one of the deadliest sustained
campaigns against Palestinians in recent history.

Many more are
believed to be dead but stuck under the rubble of destroyed buildings,
and thus as of yet unaccounted for by Gaza medical officials.

A
Palestinian was killed in an Israeli attack on al-Maghazi refugee camp
in the central Gaza Strip late on Friday, health ministry spokesman
Ashraf al-Qidra said.

The dead man was identified as Atef Suheil Qandil, 24.

Another Palestinian was killed in al-Nusairat refugee camp, also in central Gaza.

He was identified as Ab al-Malek Abu Ma'ala, 37.

Additionally,
three Palestinians were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a
three-wheeled "tuk-tuk" vehicle in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza
City.

President Mahmoud Abbas said he and a Palestinian delegation would head to Cairo on Saturday to discuss "all future steps" regarding the crisis in Gaza, after Egypt announced earlier that it was delaying Friday's ceasefire talks when Israel said one of its soldiers had been captured.

Egypt had announced earlier in the day that it would not accept the Palestinian delegation on Friday when Israel said it "refused" to hold talks after reports emerged that Hamas' armed wing had captured one of its soldiers.

The suspected capture came the same day Gaza militants and Israeli forces were to begin a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire. The truce collapsed, however, when Israeli and Palestinian fire continued after the 8:00 a.m. start time, with both sides blaming the other for breaking the ceasefire. Hamas claims to have captured the soldier early in the morning, before the ceasefire began, while Israel says "initial indication" suggests the capture took place at 9:30 a.m.

Abbas insisted he would go to Cairo regardless of "the security situation" in Gaza.

Qais Abd al-Karim, a leader in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, told Ma'an that in a meeting 12 officials representing various Palestinian political parties had planned to meet "indirectly" with Israel, using Egypt as a mediator.

He said the Palestinian delegation would be composed of Azzam al-Ahmad, Majed Faraj, Maher al-Taher, Bassam al-Salihi, and Qais Abd al-Karim for the PLO; Moussa Abu Arzouq, Muhammad Nasser, Izzat al-Rashq, and Imad al-Alami for Hamas; and Khalid al-Batsh and Ziyah Nikhala for Islamic Jihad.

Abd al-Karim said that the Palestinian factions had agreed to three main demands: ending the siege on Gaza Strip, releasing prisoners, and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

He said that ending the siege on Gaza would entail the following: allowing the transfer of imports, freedom of movement for Palestinians traveling in and out of the Strip, granting Palestinians in Gaza access to an airport and harbor, and extending the zone in which fishermen are allowed to fish. Under current stipulations, Israel has cut Gaza's fishing zone to three nautical miles despite the fact that Oslo Accords stipulated a limit of 20.

The release of prisoners, meanwhile, entailed the release of those detained throughout the past two months as part of Israeli military campaigns on the West Bank and Gaza, as well as releasing fourth batch of prisoners that Israel agreed to free as a condition of peace negotiations earlier in the year.

An official of the ministry of prisoner's affairs, meanwhile, said that the prisoner release would have to include freeing all lawmakers, most notably Ahmad Saadat and Marwan Barghouti.

Abd al-Karim added that the factions had agreed that the opening of Rafah crossing should only be discussed in Palestinian-Egyptian meetings, but that it could be discussed while the delegations were in Egypt.

A delegation from the United States was expected to be present at the meetings as well.

Egypt told the Islamic Jihad Friday it is delaying talks on a long-term Gaza ceasefire, the Palestinian militant group said, after Israel revealed one of its soldiers may have been captured.

"The Egyptians contacted the Islamic Jihad and said Israel told them that a soldier has been captured," the group's deputy leader Ziad al-Nakhale told AFP. "The talks have been postponed."

An Israeli army spokesman said an initial 72-hour truce that began at 8:00 a.m. on Friday was over after the suspected abduction of a soldier "in an incident where terrorists breached the ceasefire."

But Hamas's deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzuq said "any operation was conducted before the ceasefire started."

Abu Marzuq said Hamas was still prepared to abide by the 72-hour truce if Israel was willing to do so.

US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns had been among the diplomats expected to travel to Egypt to take part in talks aimed at agreeing on a durable truce to follow the 72-hour one that collapsed soon after it began on Friday.

A statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said that the invitation was extended amid a 72-hour ceasefire that went into effect on Friday morning at 8 a.m., with the hopes that the cessation of hostilities would not only offer a humanitarian respite but also a chance for negotiations.

The statement added that the ceasefire and accompanying talks were linked to the Egyptian proposal from July 14, which the ministry said was supported by Arab and international countries.

Israel announced an unconditional Egyptian-brokered ceasefire in mid-July, but Hamas leaders said at the time that the group was not consulted before the announcement was made.

Israel used the apparent "rejection" of the ceasefire to step up and widely expand its ground assault into Gaza.

Hamas has insisted that any ceasefire be accompanied by an end to the eight-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has crippled the seaside territory's economy and led to recurring shortages of basic humanitarian goods.

The Israeli response to the capture of a soldier in Rafah will be "crushing," Israeli media quoted the army as saying on Friday.

Israeli news website Walla said on Friday that the Israeli army threatened to call up to 80,000 reservists and to "re-occupy" Rafah.

Earlier on Friday, Hamas captured an Israeli soldier in an attack on a post east of Rafah inside the Gaza Strip.

Hamas said that Israeli forces had used the announcement of the ceasefire earlier in the evening to expand operations into the area, and the group carried out the attack before a planned ceasefire came into effect at 8 a.m.

Israel, however, said that the attack began after the ceasefire began at 9:30 a.m.

Israel has killed more than 1,500 Palestinians in its assault on Gaza over the last 25 days.

The Gaza Strip was directly occupied by Israel for nearly 40 years beginning in 1967, but in 2005 Israeli forces pulled out and a year later imposed an economic blockade after Hamas was elected in democratic elections.

Israel maintains effective control over Gaza's airspace, borders, and sea, meaning that under international law it is still considered to be occupied.

Israel shelled the Youssef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah as it carried out a widespread assault on the southern Gaza Strip town on Friday.

Witnesses told Ma'an that Israeli shells hit the hospital, but no injuries were reported.

Israeli forces have struck hospitals repeatedly over the course of the 25-day assault, including al-Wafa Hospital which was completely destroyed.

Five people were killed and dozens injured when Israeli forces shelled Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital.

The PLO says that 13 hospitals and 10 clinics have been damaged in Israeli strikes since the beginning of the assault, while 12 ambulances have been damaged, 38 health personnel injured, and 15 health personnel killed.

The Israeli military on Friday said that an Israeli soldier had been captured earlier in the day, confirming hours of speculation amid intense clashes and shelling near Rafah.

An Israeli military spokeswoman told Ma'an that she could confirm a "suspected abduction" of an Israeli soldier in the area, while a Hamas political leader took responsibility for the move.

The military said in a statement that at around 9:30 a.m., "an attack was executed against (Israeli) forces operating to decommission a tunnel."

"Initial indication suggests that an (Israeli) soldier has been abducted by terrorists during the incident."

The military named the captured soldier as Hadar Goldin, 23. It said that two other soldiers were killed in the attack.

Hamas confirmed that their forces had carried out the capture, but strongly contested the version of events put forward by Israel.

The Hamas-affiliated Al-Qassam Brigades said that "there has not been any Israeli soldier in eastern Rafah for the past 20 days. But as soon as the ceasefire was announced, Israeli movement in the area began at around 2:00 a.m. (They moved) 2.5 kilometers into eastern Rafah."

"Israel is committing crimes against our people," the statement continued. "The latest are the random shelling and airstrikes at people in eastern Rafah, violating the ceasefire, and disregarding the international efforts put into this deal," al-Qassam said in a statement.

"It is the occupation which violated the ceasefire. The Palestinian resistance acted based on ... the right to self defense (and) to stop the massacres of our people," spokesman Fawzi Barhum said in a statement.

The operation reportedly began after a Palestinian blew himself up near an Israeli military post east of Rafah, causing a large number of soldier to move to the area to defend the post.

Following the explosion, fighters emerged from tunnels nearby and captured an Israeli soldier.

In response to the attack, Israeli forces launched a massive artillery attack on eastern Rafah, with at least 35 dead and more than 200 injured so far.

The Israeli army, security services, and Shabak were currently said to be searching for the captured soldier, as intense shelling continued to rain down on Rafah.

The capture is the second such incident since Israel launched its massive assault on the Gaza Strip 24 days ago. On July 20, Hamas militants said that they had captured Oron Shaul.

Although the Israeli military initially denied the reports, they later confirmed that Oron Shaul had been killed but his body had not been recovered, suggesting that Hamas had the soldier's body.

In the past, Israel has agreed to release Palestinian prisoners kept in Israeli jails in exchange for kidnapped Israeli soldiers, and Hamas has called for soldiers to be captured with this aim.

Currently, more than 6,000 Palestinians are being held in Israeli jails, hundreds of which are being held under administrative detention without charge or trial for indefinite periods of time.

The last time Hamas captured an Israeli soldier was Gilad Shalit in 2006. He detained for six years in the Gaza Strip following the capture, which occurred at the Israel-Gaza Strip border.

Shalit was eventually released as part of a deal in 2011 in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jail.

In June and July, Israel re-arrested dozens of those former prisoners in violation of the deal as part of Operation Brother's Keeper, which targeted Hamas members across the West Bank.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Friday that at least 35 Palestinians had been killed and more than 200 injured in Israeli shelling and airstrikes on Rafah that took place after intense clashes broke out east of the city.

The ministry stressed that ambulances and medical crews are not able to enter the areas under attack, and that all means of communications had been cut off in the area.

Intense clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants were ongoing for more than an hour in the areas of al-Nasser, the destroyed Gaza International Airport, al-Blbeisi and al-Bayuk southeast of Rafah.

Israeli warplanes reportedly dropped a 1-ton bomb at the site of the clashes, killing dozens and injuring many more.